The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-05-21
TARIFF REFORM.


TARIFF REFORM.
Editor Free Trader: In my former ar.
ticle demonstrated that the glass industry
was not created by protection. In this |
propose to show that the industry is not
now dependent upon 1t. Mr.. Trimble sum.
marizes his own arguments upon this point
as follows:
at has been shown that the need of pro.
lection to certain home industries Is as
imperative today as forty years ago. That
whilst some have become self-sustaining,
"Others, in which the element of labor Is
1.-The chief cost, are confronted by over.
"whelming odds In the scale or wages
abroad, and. humbly acknowledge they
lean not proceed In business without pro
election. An instance is cited of an In.
"dustry In our midst producing $4,000
worth of goods annually, but at cost of
"more than $3S, 900 in excess of the cost
g. of like production in England, Germany
"or Holland. The manufacturers of the
same products in those countries would
shave an advantage of $4,000 over us in
" any free market on earth. Competition
under such conditions would be totally
impossible"
Now, will Mr., Trimble point to'a single
manufacturing industry, built up by pro-
lection, that by its own showing is able TO
stand alone single one that Is not as
clamorous for protection now as is the glass
industry, or as it ever was in the past +?
We will wait long, and, hope, patiently,
for reply. He says that those industries
ain which the element of labor is the chief
cost, are confronted by over~ helming odds
IN the scale of wages abroad, and humbly
acknowledge they can not proceed to bust
ness without protection" Is this true
Does the difference in the scale of wages
between European and American labor de-
termine our power to compete? Not at all
| am a hat maker. l must compete with
foreign hat that costs dollar. 1t mat
tiers not to me whether the imported hat
was made by ten men at ten cents day,
or by one man at dollar day. 1t is the
labor cost of the foreign article, not the
wages of the foreign labor, with which we
have to deal. 1t matters not to US whether
a competing article is made by many men
at pauper wages, or by few at princely
wages. Other things being equal, the Ia
Dor cost alone determines its competing
power. And the law is universal. The
higher tie ,oages tie cheaper the labor. Wages
of American labor are highest of earth,
except perhaps in New South Wales, and
American labor is the cheapest of earth;
that Is, 1t gives the greatest per cent. OF
product to the dollar paid, and this is the
pivotal and decisive point in the question
of com peting power. In other words, the
labor cost of production is less in America
than in any other country; and it Is alone
the dead weight, the millstone-protection
hanging to the neck of industry, that pre-
vents us from manufacturing for the world.
Wages here are highest and labor cheap
est because 1t is most intelligent, most en-
ergetic most effective, most productive.
Indeed the laborer here occupies the po-
sition, and receives the comparative wages,
Of superintendent. Go into any factory,
any machine shop, and observe the opera
ton. The real laborer is not in sight He
is in the steam engine, in the water wheel,
In the power that moves the machinery.
The laborer who stands by the lathe and
the loom is superintendent. The highest
authorities estimate the steam and water
power of America equivalent to the labor
Of thousand million of men, Our labor
ers are not therefore confined to the num-
Der of seventeen millions returned by the
census; but for energy, force and produc-
tive power, they number thousand and
seventeen millions of men-a number
greater than dwell in the hives of India
and the East. These, with our vast and
virgin resources, are the conditions which
render production SO cheap in America.
dwell upon this point, because If labor
cost of production is as low here as In Eu-
rope, then by MIR. Trimble's own showing
the glass industry is not only not depend
ent upon protection, but protection itself
has not pigment of ground to stand upon.
What is the fact? In this investigation l
shall cite none of the reports of the Porters,
and other paid agents OF protection, who
90 to England, hunt for some social sore,
some boil upon the social system, and,
burrowing themselves therein, write OF
the health of the body politic,-who, from
the dens of idleness, wretchedness ana
crime, beneath the streets of her great
commercial marts, draw pictures of the
poverty, want and restitution of the people
at large, and from her city stews of prosti-
tuition, indite letters to the Tribune upon
the morals of the nation. shall confine
myself rather TO statistics, which though
generally coming from protectionist sourc-
es, will be found, think, decisive OF the
issue. admit that the scale of wages Is
25 per cent. higher in America than in Eng
land, and nearly 800 per cent. higher here
than upon the continent of Europe. The
point am attempting to make, however,